Survitec Group Asset Manager

Overview

Survitec Group (formerly RFD Beaufort) command market-leading positions worldwide in marine, defence and aerospace survival technology. The Survitec Group brings together best-in-class brands with reputations for quality design and innovation.

We have worked with Survitec for over 10 years primarily on the development of an asset management solution for pilot flight equipment used by Lockheed Martin in the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter programme.

Challenges

Pilot flight equipment has to be treated as mission critical to ensure safety standards. It is therefore vital that the pilot equipment supplied by Survitec is correctly fitted and maintained through its life-cycle to ensure standards are met and safety guidelines are followed by pilots and maintenance staff alike.

Information security is of paramount importance to ensure the operational safety of the public, pilots and aircraft.

Solution

We worked with Survitec to understand the pilot fitting process and create an automated sizing methodology. More than 20 anthropometric measurements are taken from the pilot during his stay at the Pilot Fit Facility at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.

We created a secure online asset management solution for Survitec to allow assets, pilot details and maintenance records to be logged, accessed and audited worldwide from secure locations.

The solution developed pulled together a number of leading edge technologies to allow information to be logged in "real-time" using a secure and auditable work-flow.

The automated sizing methodology derived from the physical pilot fitting process allows the system to suggest the appropriate sizing for each of the pilot's assets, including oxygen mask hose length, pressure suit and flight jacket.

As well as providing sizing suggestions, the system helps in the re-ordering of stock items and bespoke items.

As soon as items are allocated to a pilot they enter a rolling programme of maintenance. The software keeps track of the schedule and results, giving the go/no-go for the pilot with visual cues. Alerts are provided via a series of traffic light indicators to show the flight-worthiness of any single piece of equipment logged on the system.

A variety of messaging technologies are used in the system to alert users of any equipment maintenance / safety issues arising from use or in the maintenance process.

Conclusion

The browser based solution we created for Survitec is still in use today after 8 years at bases throughout the USA and we are continuing to work with Survitec on other projects such as liferafts, asset management and the introduction of RFID tagging.